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We really don't need more bad press right now. I hope the investigation exonerates Autopilot. This just dropped a couple minutes ago in the Detroit Free Press:

"A Southfield art gallery owner told police his 2016 Tesla Model X was in Autopilot mode when it crashed and rolled over on the Pennsylvania Turnpike last week. The crash came just one day after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a report on a fatal crash in May involving a Tesla that was in self-driving mode.

Albert Scaglione and his artist son-in-law, Tim Yanke, both survived Thursday's crash near the Bedford exit, about 107 miles east of Pittsburgh.

The Free Press was not able to reach Scaglione, owner of Park West Gallery, or Yanke, but Dale Vukovich of the Pennsylvania State Police, who responded to the crash, said Scaglione told him that he had activated the Autopilot feature.
In his crash report, Vukovich stated that Scaglione's car was traveling east near mile marker 160, about 5 p.m. when it hit a guard rail "off the right side of the roadway. It then crossed over the eastbound lanes and hit the concrete median."

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Albert Scaglione, founder and CEO of Park West Gallery in Southfield was injured when his Tesla Model X crashed into a guard rail and a concrete median last Friday on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the town of Bedford. (Photo: Eric Seals/ Free Press photographer)

After that, the Tesla Model X rolled onto its roof and came to rest in the middle eastbound lane. A 2013 Infiniti G37 driven in the westbound lane by Thomas Hess of West Chester, Pa., was struck by debris from the Scaglione car, but neither he nor his passenger was hurt.

Vukovich said he likely will cite Scaglione after he completes his investigation, but he declined to specify the charge."

TESLA continues to purport their very "semi" autonomous vehicle as a fully capable autopilot system... Which it is not, TESLA's autopilot is simply an advanced cruise control system with lane staying added in. However, even just two weeks ago I had a co-worker who went on a test drive and the salesperson told them to go ahead and put their hands in their lap after engaging autopilot... STUPID!!! This indicates to me that within the marketing strategy internally is a "let's show off how great autopilot is" rather than a "let's educate people on what autopilot actually is and its limitations"... I understand which sells more cars but that sort of philosophy is very dangerous!!!

Yeah I know it isn't specific to the Model S - but I generally post here because if you want a lively discussion about something, this forum has the most activity. I am the one who asked for an autonomous-specific sub-forum actually. They gave me what I asked for and - crickets. Almost no activity in there.

Story now picked up by Zerohedge. I'm starting to be worried about public perception - not the reality. I love my Autopilot and Tesla. I think accidents are part of the learning process and Musk is the only one brave enough to do the fleet development which will lead to mass adoption of safe semi autonomous and autonomous cars.

But Musk's twitter comments this morning sound to me like a man under extreme stress.

I hope the public and our regulators don't go into panic-and-politics mode about autonomous cars and Autopilot in particular.

I am definitely concerned that highly publicized Autopilot accidents will slow sales. We will see.

You two are preaching to the choir here on TMC about how to use Autopilot. The truth has little to do with anything and is almost irrelevant. What I'm concerned about is not us here on TMC. I'm starting to worry about mounting bad press, followed by uninformed public opinion causing opportunistic politicians to potentially step in and start grand standing about how we need more regulations to protect us from the big bad auto companies trying to force "dangerous" autopilot systems on the unsuspecting American public...

You two are preaching to the choir here on TMC about how to use Autopilot. The truth has little to do with anything and is almost irrelevant. What I'm concerned about is not us here on TMC. I'm starting to worry about mounting bad press, followed by uninformed public opinion causing opportunistic politicians to potentially step in and start grand standing about how we need more regulations to protect us from the big bad auto companies trying to force "dangerous" autopilot systems on the unsuspecting American public...

Click to expand...

Don't worry, you're preaching to the choir about that too

Every day I fear that one of the primary reasons I bought this $90k car is going to be legislatively removed because a few folks did not use it properly.

In the short video that went across the nation had a snippet of information about the crash focusing on Tesla's Auto Pilot. No mention of the speed, which by witness accounts was extreme for a non-limited access road; The fact that the collision was at the windshield level as the S passed beneath the trailer; the fact that the car was going so fast, the impact didn't stop the S which continued another 100+ feet across a grass field before coming to rest at a light pole. Witnesses reveal new details behind deadly Tesla accident in Florida

I feel for the deceased Model S driver who previous posted confident and positive videos while using the Auto Pilot feature. All Tesla drivers should be reminded -- "auto pilot is not for all conditions, roads." Don't become complacent or intoxicated with the speed and capability. When I drive with auto pilot, I use only on interstate highways or limited access roads--never in construction zones, narrow lanes, in heavy traffic or extreme whether. As Tesla warns. I always have a hand on the steering wheel and pay attention to the road ahead. Lastly, when circumstances exceed our comfort level, DRIVE (we make hundreds of adjustments for a minute for conditions and circumstances). Unfortunately, one of our fold lost his life, and another "flipped" his X -- let's learn this is not yet Autonomous Driving.

No, there was a rollover crash of the Model S as well. It generally involves exceptional circumstances, generally leaving the road at some sort of angle (e.g. down a steep embankment to the median). It's nearly physically impossible to guarantee something won't roll over unless you strap a large amount of buttered toast to it.